As I experimented with a famous 1848 photo of Edgar Allen Poe, now in the public domain, to come up with an image for the 61st episode of the Eternal Jew’s Tale (found at the Times of Israel, at https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-eternal-jews-tale-61-a-raven/) my “darkroom work” produced the following collection of images. For your edification…
During Covid I began transforming a storage shed into a tiny house. The goal was to build a super-insulated small space using as much recycled and repurposed building material as possible. Unfortunately, the rigid insulation (Thermax), the sheathing (1/4” plywood), and the wrap (Tyvek) were not available as recyled material, but most everything else was, including the windows and door, the paneling, and the flooring.
Below I present a slideshow of the project as it proceeded. In the first steps I was joined by my son and his partner, who you will see in a couple of pix, but after they blew off the west wall and framed the small addition to the shed, the rest of the work was done by yours truly.
I have begun the research and writing to create a new, modern Pesach (Passover) haggadah, with a new order, new structure, new histories and midrashim, new questions, new questions to answer questions, new portraits of personality types, while still embedding much of the traditional haggadah. This one will be a looking back, a looking forward, a looking at the turbulence and clarities within. Here granular, there sweeping vistas. Now personal, now transitional, now transformational. Thus…
(translated back to old English from my poetic voice…)
Here. The Crystal Haggadah begins. Hear. The seder, its orders retold.
For something like three thousand years or more this tradition, this ritual has been observed yearly in Yisroyel. This, and Shabbat, continuously remembered and observed longer than any other ritual in any other religion or culture in the world.
Observed and honored, festively (or furtively where hate prevails, where laws are writ, where knives are drawn, afraid of us, afraid of our God)…
in Sinai’s shadow; in Judea’s fields; in hovels and mansions in Babylon; in Elephantine ‘way down the Nile, and far up the Euphrates in Pumbedit; in Athens, Rome, and Byzantium; in Medina, Baghdad, Tashkent, Kabul; in Cochin, Calcutta, and Kaifeng; in Kathmandu and Timbuktu; in Algiers, Tangiers, and Tripoli; in Aden, Addis Ababa, and Muscat; in Europe, every shtetl and stadt; in Australia, Sydney to the arid outback; and across the oceans to the New World, in the Caribbean, on every isle, and from Patagonia and Concepcion to Goose Bay and White Horse and Denali Park.
Pesach, the call to liberation; the path to revelation.
My wife and I are visiting NYC, staying in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood in Brooklyn (F train to Carroll St).. I’d call this one of New York’s best “Little Italys” with some completely fabulous shops (Caputo’s Fine Foods is a Mich 3 market in my book, and Monteleone’s Bakery is right up there too, including perfect espresso).
When we arrived at Carroll St station for the first time and walked the 5 or so blocks to our 4 day apartment rental, we were bemused by the many religious shrines in the yards. I’d never seen anything like it. Sure, we’ve seen religious shrines in lots of yards, but here, every 2nd or 3rd house had a shrine. I loved it!! Today is our last day here. I decided I just had to make a photo record of some of the shrines, and here it is. Mind you, these photos were all taken along just 2 1/2 blocks, and on 1 1/2 of those blocks I only took photos on ONE side of the street, not both sides!!
As I was taking one of these photos (#4), the owner of the house came out, clearly pleased that I was photographing his Madonna. He apologized for the algae growing on it, but I told him it looked like it had been painted to bring out the shadows. Nature as artist. Our conversation lasted hardly more than a minute or two, but I think we both walked away elevated, feeling like we’d made a meaningful connection. Well, it was meaningful to me, at least.
Oh, I should mention that the last 5 slides aren’t really shrines, but like the shrines they ARE public-private statements that are an active part of the neighborhood’s personality. And there are a couple of slides in which the “shrine” is just a beautifully gardened yard.
What a great place to stay while visiting NYC. What a great place to live.
Here’s my Carroll Gardens Shrines slideshow:
Amnesty International’s latest Jew-bashing polemic has unconditionally verified what morally responsible people have been saying for years: Amnesty is a mouthpiece for anti-Jewish and anti-western hate mongers. This has been obvious to me for well over a decade, but perhaps this time their egregious distortions and lies (claiming that Israel is “apartheid”) will convince even some of the “liberal” news outlets to stop re-posting Amnesty’s bigotry and endorsing Amnesty’s Jew-hatred. By the way, you may wonder why I put ‘liberal’ in quotes above. It’s because organizations like the BBC, New York Times, and NPR are indeed often liberal in their views. However, when it comes to Israel they do a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde flip, letting their ugly anti-Jewish animus escape unfiltered and uncontrolled.
I won’t recreate the wheel here with my own analysis of Amnesty’s latest abusive attack on Israel. Of the many reports that have already thoroughly dismantled and discredited the apartheid claims, here’s the place I think you should start if you’re not clear how much of a train-wreck the Amnesty report really is:
https://mailchi.mp/americanrabbi/weekly-talking-points-brief-september-27-13581230?e=25c819a369
Perhaps Amnesty should rename themselves Amnazi International. At least they would then be coming clean about their problem with Jews and Israel.
Continuing from the story begun in podcast #6, the ancient sheikh completes his tale of local deities and their battles against Adonai.
You can find the textual version of this particular episode at the Times of Israel website:
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-eternal-jews-tale-07-in-search-of-the-garden-2/
Or go to:
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/tales-of-the-eternal-jew/
where you can find all the published episodes (currently {18} of them). They are displayed in reverse order, so you’ll have to scroll down to the bottom to read them sequentially.
The ancient story-telling sheikh
The date is about 190CE. The place is east of Damascus. In this episode the Eternal Jew, searching for the Garden of Aden, meets an ancient sheikh.
You can find the textual version of this particular episode at the Times of Israel website:
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-eternal-jews-tale-06-in-search-of-the-garden/
Or go to:
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/tales-of-the-eternal-jew/
where you can find all the published episodes (currently 17 of them). They are displayed in reverse order, so you’ll have to scroll down to the bottom to read them sequentially.
Camping outside of Palmyra, hearing strange tales.
In this episode, the Eternal Jew meets Saul of Tarsus in a local synagogue, and they discuss a letter Saul has written to a community in Rome.
You can find the textual version of these episodes at the Times of Israel website, https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/tales-of-the-eternal-jew/ . They are displayed in reverse order, so you’ll have to scroll down to the bottom to read them sequentially.
The diplomat’s little shop
In this episode the Eternal Jew sets out on the Damascus Road, with some wry comments about Rome and another famous fellow who walked this road. He may agree with Bar Yohai’s negative opinion of Roman bath houses, buuuut…
You can find the textual version of these episodes at the Times of Israel website, https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/tales-of-the-eternal-jew/ . They are displayed in reverse order, so you’ll have to scroll down to the bottom to read them sequentially.
Walkin’ that damn ass-kiss road
In this episode the Eternal Jew escapes from Jerusalem, which is under siege by Rome, and begins a slow trek north and east.
You can find the textual version of these episodes at the Times of Israel website, https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/tales-of-the-eternal-jew/ . They are displayed in reverse order, so you’ll have to scroll down to the bottom to read them sequentially.
Leaping from a parapet
Let the tales begin!
This, the first episode , finds the Eternal Jew in Jerusalem around 30 CE. He recalls those troubled times and his friendship with a local revolutionary.
You can find the textual version of these episodes at the Times of Israel website, https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/tales-of-the-eternal-jew/ . They are displayed in reverse order, so you’ll have to scroll down to the bottom to read them sequentially.
Azurite Sky of Jerusalem
Here beginneth a series of readings from the epic poem The Atternen Juez Talen, aka The Eternal Jew’s Tale. This podcast series will follow the character of the Eternal Jew as portrayed in my epic as he endures, thrives, and transforms the places he lives in.
This first podcast introduces the series. Enjoy! Don’t be shy. Write to me with your thoughts. Oh, by the way, you can find the textual version of these episodes at the Times of Israel website, https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/tales-of-the-eternal-jew/ . They are displayed in reverse order, so you’ll have to scroll down to the bottom to read them sequentially.
For as long as the editorial waters at the Times of Israel are clear and inviting, I’ll be posting in serial format my prose version of The Eternal Jew’s Tale, known in the higher worlds as Thuh Atternen Juez Talen.
Here’s the link to the Times of Israel blog page where you’ll be able to find my blog (you may have to scroll down a ways). If you go on Mondays, click “Latest” on the menu ribbon near the top of the page, and my post should be near the top:
For the last 7 months I’ve been working on producing an amulet for my grandson, Jonah. It involved creating the design, laying the gold, painting the image, and calligraphing an inscription. The primary materials were calfskin parchment, gold leaf, acrylic paint, and ink. The whole project took 95 hours. Here’s a 3 minute video compiled from the photos I took as my work progressed. As you will see, progress was not always straightforward and satisfactory, but I’m very pleased with the results.
Two weeks ago Jews around the world read the portion Shelakh Lekha (Shelach Lecha), “Send out men for yourself” to scout the land of Canaan. Moshe sends out twelve tribal leaders as scouts, and 40 days later they return with their report: it is truly a land of abundance, cultivated and forested, with well built cities and towns. But 10 of the 12 scouts go on to report, “we were in our own eyes like grasshoppers” (13:33) to those people, who were giants. “The people in the land are too strong” for us (13:28). Only 2 scouts, Joshua and Caleb provide a minority report. In the words of Caleb, “We can indeed go up and take possession of it. We are truly able to do so.” (13:30) And who do the masses of Hebrews listen to? They listen to the nay-sayers and fear-mongers. “All the sons of Israel murmured against Moshe” and “the entire community said, ‘would that we had died in Egypt or the desert...’” (14:1-2) And by that choice they earned the fate they chose: dying in the desert. Only those not born into a life and an ideology of servitude were privileged to join Joshua and Caleb in taking possession of the land promised to them.
And here we are, some 3300 years later, and listen to the throng continuing to murmur and complain about our having taken possession of the land. They believe the scouts (journalists from the New York Times, BBC, Al Jazeera, NPR) who bring back exaggerated, false, and slanderous reports, and they learn their history, if they learn it at all, from those who hate Israel.
So let me take you on a high speed tour to make sure you have a basic understanding of Palestinian history.
Since the Roman conquest and colonization of Judea 2000 years ago, the only people who have ruled the land of Israel (renamed Palestine by the Romans) prior to 1948 have been colonizers. Byzantines, Abbasids, Seljuks, Mamluks, Crusaders, and others all colonized this land to serve rulers who lived in cities far away. In the 16th century the Ottoman Turks conquered the land and it was still in their grip at the end of the 19th century. Although there were some limited indigenous nationalisms emerging in the Ottoman empire, notably by Kurds and Armenians, in Palestine the few inhabitants living there were more interested in survival than political philosophy. The land was a ruins, a fact comprehensively documented in many dozens of books, some produced by individuals, some produced by groups, and some produced as the result of large-scale expeditions that included artists and photographers. I have pored over dozens of these books. There is not a single drawing, etching, or photograph showing anything but a depopulated land pervaded by extreme poverty. Nor is there mention of even the slightest murmurings of a “Palestinian national identity.”
In the late 19th century Jews once again decided to end their wanderings. So began the saga of Zionism, and the advent of the modern Jewish restoration of the land. It was a true national liberation movement, and it was the first, yes, the first time since Judea was conquered by Rome, that colonizers were being confronted by an indigenous people, a people with a highly developed national identity: Jews. It was Jewish emigration and Jewish investment that began to repopulate the land and bring about its revival. This included a concomitant Arab emigration, as they responded to the economic growth generated by the Jews.
Fast forward to the Gaza war of May, 2021. The excoriating journalistic attacks against Israel by so-called liberals pile up. Social media institutionalizes the lies and slanders. The outspoken, the latent, and the secret Jew-haters all gorge on the news (and vomit it wherever they go). Their numbers include not a few Jews. Should you be surprised? Read Shelakh Lekha. It tells of a mixed multitude of nay-sayers, and no doubt each had their own excuse, each had their own favorite distortion or lie.
Of the modern Jewish Israel-haters, some are angry and accusing; some are ashamed; some are wagging their fingers and moralizing with their insipid and fake morality. But I would suggest, beneath it all most of them are driven by the same fear those ten scouts in Shelakh Lekha felt. They see themselves as grasshoppers and the Israel-haters as anakim, giants. They read their NYT and listen to their NPR and BBC and Al Jazeera and become afraid like the Hebrew wanderers in the desert, who trembled in their imagined inferiority. They hear lies and take them for chastisements. They hear slanders and imagine they are truths. They prefer to see themselves as victims so they can be worthy of sympathy. They prefer obeisance so they don’t have to make hard, existential choices. But if Israel were left to such weak hands and such weak wills, it would quickly cease to exist. Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and many others in the region are not bound by moral restraints (as the Arab Spring so brutally showed), and would love nothing more than the opportunity to make every Jew in the land a victim.
What then can be said about the far greater problem of Arab and Muslim Jew-hatred with its focus on denying Israel’s right to exist? As the ADL report on worldwide anti-Semitism clearly shows (ADL Global 100, An Index of Anti-Semitism), the Muslim world is the epicenter of Jew-hatred in the modern world. Public and private schools from Morocco to Bangladesh teach Jew-hatred; the various media promote Jew-hatred; religious leaders preach Jew-hatred; and governments enforce Jew-hatred. And from this epicenter, Jew-hatred in all its forms is being promoted in every country of the world. This is a problem the obeisance-lovers don’t know how to address. Indeed, they are afraid to even acknowledge it, much less, to acknowledge that it is the basis of their own thinking.
Surely the news is bad and I am often dismayed, but I have not lost hope. The news and social media may be sick with abuse and hatred, and this Torah portion highlights how easily disinformation can prevail. However, our Torah reading includes a contrasting Haftarah. Here we read the story of the scouts sent to Jericho (Joshua 2:1-24). Finally, after long wanderings, the Jewish people has found its courage. The scouts report with prophetic insight (v. 2:24), “Adonai has delivered into our hands all the land.” And so it is today, as well. We have been granted, and we are earning the opportunity to rebuild our nation. But if you look just a little deeper, you will see we are not alone. Our allies are many, and not a few are Muslims, who have stepped up to become partners in Israel’s effort to exist as an accepted neighbor in the region. When that day has been firmly established, let us then see how Israel measures up to our highest expectations.
So let me modernize Joshua’s exhortation:
May all Jews, and may people of all faiths and philosophies stand with Israel and be strong and of good courage. May we pursue truth and be strengthened with righteousness. To quote the modern prophet, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.” And so I have faith that history will affirm our vision, and will affirm the justice and righteousness of Israel.
"Apartheid-Israel" is a modern slander directed towards Jews. It falls squarely within the framework of historic Jew-hatred, and is no different in intent than the age-old hate teachings, such as the blood-libel, the accusation that Jews poisoned wells to spread the 'black death', and the myth that Jews have a 'secret cabal' to take over the world. It is intended to delegitimize Israel’s right to exist, and it is cloaked in “political opinion” to allow it unqualified agency. If the many Jew-hating slanders weren't used to hate, plunder, and murder, they would be laughable. But they aren't laughable at all. They're evil.
In the following paragraphs I'll outline
1. a short history of this slander,
2. its hypocrisy and double standards, and
3. which countries and peoples in the Middle East are truly apartheid.
It is only after all these things are acknowledged and understood, that the rule of law as it exists in Israel today, including its many failures, can be honestly discussed.
The "Israel is apartheid" slander emerged as a propaganda tool by the Palestinians in the early 1970's as part of their multi-phased war to delegitimize, and ultimately destroy Israel and wipe it off the map. More recently it was picked up by the BDS movement, driven by Palestinian, Muslim, "liberal" Christian, and leftist anti-Zionists to propagate their various versions of Israel-hatred and Jew-hatred. Their propaganda program has now become main stream, not unlike the hate propaganda generated by the nazis in the 1930's, or by the medieval Christian church. Thus, it is treated in Wikipedia as a matter of discussion and controversy, and not for what it really is -- Jew-hatred and slander. And of course, it has become a cause celebre in the UN, an organization with an overt and aggressive anti-Zionist agenda.
Jew-hatred, like racism, has very deep roots, and in many historic eras and in many parts of the modern world it is simply taken for granted as a valid world-view. But because it is widespread does not mean it is true, honest, or moral. Indeed, it is none of these.
In short, Israel is held to a standard that no other country in the world is held to. There is, of course, discrimination against Palestinians in Israel, as there is discrimination against Jews by Palestinians. But economically, socially, and politically, Palestinian citizens of Israel have a definably better life than Palestinians in ANY other country in the world. Period. Their economic and social status is higher, and their opportunities are vastly greater than Palestinians (or Arabs, in general) living in any other country. Palestinians in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and other Arab countries are still confined to refugee camps, which are more like concentration camps. They are kept in these camps because their "Arab brothers" don't want them as fellow citizens, and in truth, couldn't care less about them. They are used and brutally abused as pawns in the long-term Arab/Muslim war against Israel's right to exist. But, if one must make apartheid accusations, then first look at the plight of Algerians in France, Pakistanis in England, Turks in Germany, Kurds in Turkey, etc. The Palestinians in Israel have vastly better lives than any of these people. Yet Israel is slandered with the accusation of being apartheid.
And what about the West Bank? Aren't Palestinians there grossly discriminated against? First, West Bank Palestinians in general have better, more prosperous, freer lives than Palestinians in any Arab country. Period. Second, the West Bank is not part of Israel, and Israel is not bound by the same laws as it is for its own citizens. Third, the Palestinians in the West Bank have created their own fate, vis a vis Israel, due to their hatred, violence, and unwillingness to make peace, and ultimately to establish themselves as an independent country.
Palestinians of the West Bank have instigated 2 uprisings, both of which were exceedingly costly in lives both to Israel and themselves. In the 2nd intifada (uprising) 1000 Israeli civilians were murdered by terrorist attacks and suicide bombings in public places like cafes and synagogues. That would be equivalent to 30,000 Americans dying in anti-American riots. These uprisings were not about equal rights. They were intended as acts of warfare to destabilize Israel. They were intended to draw other Arab countries into the conflict, in a widespread war of annihilation, to "drive the Jews into the sea." Their military ambitions were a disastrous failure, but they have been successful in propagating their hatred.
In effect, what the apartheid-Israel slanderers are saying is: "Palestinians are allowed to hate Israel, deny Israel the right to exist, and perpetrate all kinds of violence, but Israel must treat Palestinians as if they were devoted citizens, ignoring their hatred and violence." It's ridiculous, but that's what is expected of Israel. Indeed, even more egregiously, Jews are not allowed to live in the West Bank, AT ALL. If they were, there’d be no need for settlements. Jews are forbidden to live in the West Bank (even tho Jews have been indigenous there for over 3000 years), and selling land to a Jew is a crime punishable by death according to Palestinian law! That's apartheid.
As for the Palestinians of Gaza, both their attitude and their violence are yet more extreme than that of West Bank Palestinians. Hamas, the theocratic dictatorship that rules Gaza, has avowed in their charter, as well as consistently in public statements (right up to the very day in which I’m writing this essay, June 2, 2021) that their goal is to destroy Israel and kill all its Jews. They have diverted a significant proportion of all the humanitarian aid they have received, as well as goods that come in thru Egypt and Israel, towards war with Israel. They have used that “aid” and materials earmarked for public welfare to build and amass a huge rocket arsenal, and to construct a vast "subway" system of military attack tunnels under their population centers, tunnels with no civilian use whatsoever. They use their own citizens (and foreign news agencies) as human shields, including placing munitions and military installations and operations rooms in and beneath hospitals, mosques, schools, apartment buildings, and office buildings. They use the shield of those same locations to stage rocket attacks on Israeli civilian populations. Aside from the 2 wars they started with Israel in the last decade, during "peacetime" they have fired over 10,000 rockets at Israeli cities, and have burned thousands of acres of farmland and orchards. And yet they claim, in a shockingly cynical irony, that they have been victimized by Israel!! Again, it would be laughable if it weren't evil. The same money and creativity could have been used to turn Gaza into a premier seaside vacation destination. But no. Many in Gaza suffer because their own government (with widespread public support) prefers to use poverty as a means of perpetuating hatred of Israel, and as an international propaganda tool.
The real apartheid in the Middle East exists in every Arab country, as well as Iran and Turkey. Kurds, Druze, Baha'is, Armenians, numerous Christian sects, Zoroastrians, bedouin peoples, Berbers, and a host of other minority peoples in the Middle East have all been periodically stripped of their rights, persecuted, ethnically cleansed, and suffered genocides in the last 80 years. All these, and other egregious acts of apartheid, discrimination, and oppression have been ignored or made light of. Instead, the one and only country with a constitution that requires equal treatment for all citizens, Israel, is cynically accused of being apartheid.
Appalling genocides involving the murder of many hundreds of thousands or millions of innocent citizens have occurred in Africa and S.E. Asia, the Middle East (remember ISIS?? Saddam Hussein?? Hafez al-Assad and his son Bashar??), and now in China against it's large Uighur minority, and yet Israel is cynically accused of apartheid. Here you see the grip of Jew-hatred driving the thinking of masses of people, many of whom imagine they are moral exemplars. They are no such thing. They are hypocrites and bigots.
And it seems no one (at least no one “woke”) is allowed to mention the elephant in the room. No one is allowed to mention that Islam itself is avowedly apartheid. The dhimma system is one of the defining features of Islamic law, and it specifically establishes the legal primacy of Muslims over all other citizens. Jews and Christians are formally and specifically second class citizens, and can be denied most legal privileges at the will of the ruler and his/her agents. Members of other religions have even fewer rights, and are even more at risk. From a western point of view, the dhimma is archaic and medieval, but it is still a defining feature of law in every Arab country, and nearly every Muslim country, sometimes constitutionally, but always from the ground up. The dhimma is how Muslims are taught to treat non-Muslims. And yet Israel with its modern constitution guaranteeing equal rights for all citizens, and its rule of law that commonly sides with Palestinians, is slanderously accused of being apartheid.
Finally, the epicenter of Jew-hatred in the world today is the Middle East (including countries as far east as Pakistan and Bangledesh). Sadly, in this era, Islam is an active agent in promoting Jew-hatred. It has not always been so, and hopefully a time will come when once again Islam will embrace tolerance towards its Abrahamic brother, and all others. But right now, public and private schools from Morocco to Bangledesh teach Jew-hatred; the various media promote Jew-hatred; religious leaders preach Jew-hatred; and governments enforce Jew-hatred. And from this epicenter, Jew-hatred in all its forms, including the apartheid slander, is being promoted in every country of the world. It has rampantly spread across social media, feeding the roots of Jew-hatred that seem to dwell in every human being, and spreading it like a pandemic, fed by lies, hatred, and ignorance.
So am I saying Israel is above criticism?
NO! I am saying that it is only at this point, when one is sure that Jew-hatred and its anti-Israel biases have been squarely looked at, acknowledged, and refuted unconditionally, that one can then look at Israel, see its many failures in its relations with the Palestinians, look at the comparable Palestinian and Arab failures, and understand them in context. But until one has reached this point of honest self-evaluation, and careful understanding of history, the discussion about "Israel's crimes" is just another kind of Ku Klux Klan cross burning. It is hatred, parading itself unashamedly in public.
Continuing the story line from my previous two posts (April 8 and 13, 2021) in which the sage, Yose ben Halafta is being led by a child into the ruins of Betar…
And once again I feel that hand gripped in mine, tugging me. His sweet eyes look up at me.
“The sad lady. That’s her name. She likes to read Hosea to me up on the rooftop when I can’t sleep.”
A wonderment. And on we go, deeper descending inside Betar.
We come to a stark and open place, what might have been the marketplace, now deathly silent. Even the doves refrain from keening their God-taught psalms. Just a breathy mumble, like *Hannah at prayer* praying the curse be lifted from her. [Note: 1 Sam. 1:10-13]
“A vain prayer if she lived now. No more will children laugh in this place”
As if a hand is gripping my throat, and I can’t breathe. Shock and fear. What is this that knows my thoughts?
“You’re lost, old man, and no return, yet you cling to hope that there’s a path or a Halakha you know from here. Hope is a lie, white-washing the truth.”
And finally I see a faint trace of a shade, or is it a blasted oak?
The boy urgently tugs on my hand, but I must see who addresses me in such a prescient and cynic voice.
“What ails you shade that you spit these words at me as if I trespass you”
“And who be this Roman chump that intrudes?”
“I see you don’t know all my thoughts. Roman, certainly I am not! In the secret synagogues I am known as Yose the teacher; some call me ‘sage.’”
“Son of Halafta! I had heard that, along with Khutspit, you were torn to pieces and had your tongue ripped out.”
“I’m still here, at it still wags. You seem to know me. Who are you?”
Ignoring me, he continues his rant:
“How long will you flout those worn-out beliefs?”
When I don’t answer, he frowns and spits.
“*For three transgressions or even four,* I will not turn back to the path of the Lor. What my eyes have seen be proof enough that the Lor has turned away from us.” [Note: Amos 1:3]
“What are these so-called proofs of yours?”
Again he frowns and spits in the wind.
“Madness drives the human spirit. Else explain what the Zealots did, burning three years store of grain, and breaking cisterns to force a fight against a siege invincible? Madness. Then came utter ruin and massacres unknown before. Roman soldiers tore down The House, burnt the Holy of Holies to ash, murdered their ten thousands and more, and swaggered our plunder back in Rome. Humiliations followed that. Priests stripped naked, driven thru the streets, beaten, pissed on, blinded, killed. Women raped while their children looked on. Infants thrown from the Temple walls, hundreds, their bodies splattered in piles. And who survived? Cowards who fled, and sages who hid in garbage heaps. And of those sages, many a one were martyred, burnt, beheaded, flayed. And who prevails? Lupis the beast, lean and hungry, godless, wild. Caesar has seized this whole world. There’s your proof. You need more?”
My chest tightens. Words fail. Dismayed, I turn my eyes to the ground. Again, I feel the tug on my hand.
“I told you not to go in there. He yells at everyone that way.”
Stumbling on many a stump and stone, we hustle back into the welcoming ruins, the thick shadows, the silent gloom. Now the dog begins to bark. The boy stops and shushes me. A moan, a cry, a screech, a howl off in the distance, drawing near.
The boy now yanks his hand from mine and runs away. And then a shout.
“Father! I’ve been searching for you.”
The dog is yipping, scamper and skip, and the three emerge from a shattered tomb.
The first tainted shades of dawn begin to paint the eastern sky.
“Peace be upon you, prayerful man.”
“And peace be upon you, father and sage.”
“I see my son has guided you thru these ruins. No doubt you met my friend Elisha, him who once stood among the elite of Israel, til tragedies and their harsh blows broke his heart and crushed his will. Now anger’s currents ravage him like a house washed out by flood and broken up in the surge of waves. There’s still a spark of faith in him that in a gilgul, maybe two, will flare again and shine new light. A broken heart is slow to heal. But you, Reb Yose, I told you before, you shouldn’t enter a ruins to pray.”
Wonders abound. Who is this?
“I heard a voice luring me. Here just a moan of a mourning dove, there, a minyan praying psalms. Such congregations called to me.”
“You should have stayed on the road and prayed. Many a danger lurks in here.”
“True, but dangers also stalk the road, and many disruptions too.”
“Then shorten your prayer and quicken your step back to a place where Shekhina sings.”
“Master and teacher, how do you know my name? Have we met before?”
“In other bodies and other times we have met. But in this place, horizons limit all you see, all you hear, all you feel, and you can’t remember anything beyond their tight constricting curves. And so you don’t remember me.”
“And does that not apply to you, too? Or should I call you ‘Divine Envoy?’”
Tarnished silver streaks the clouds, with edges burnished to a brilliant gleam. The brighter the light, the more transparent the man and his son. Now disappeared.
All that remained, a yipping dog which followed me down the long road to Tzippori, where it too disappeared.
Continuing the story line from my previous post (April 8, 2021) in which the sage, Yose ben Halafta is being led by a child into the ruins of Betar…
Now further we wander thru Betar’s streets. Are we walking in circles here? I keep repeating the same phrase...
Mellekh maymeet u’m’khiyay u’mutsme’ukh yeshu’ah...
Creator of death and life; our matrix and deliverer.
And now I hear a keening psalm with an accent foreign to this age. I urge the child to turn aside to a little house with its dome caved in. Peering into a doorway’s abyss, there, a shimmering ghostly light, like a damsel, her eyes mad with grief. Seeing me she cringes away to a corner, compelled by horror or fear.
“Go away you demon scourge. Leave me be like times before when you and your brothers had all fled from him who spake and freed me from you.”
“Fear not damsel. Look at me, a man of flesh from Adam’s world, who heard your moans among the doves and has come to see if I might salve.”
Slow her terrors wash from her face, replaced by a flickering show of moods, many full of her former despair, mixed with glimmers of doubtful hopes, which maybe inspired her to confess:
“Look at me, so empty and lost, waiting many a long year for him whose touch was purest joy to return and make me new again. Betrothed we were when he set off to his father’s house, not so far. But see how years in moments pass, and once again I am beset by demons, all prick and bite, who spew their lies and leave me besmirched with doubt and anger, hurt and hate. My troubles compile and redouble my fears that he is dead and will not return. I, who was great among the redeemed, am become a widow, become a thrall.”
“Do I hear you a-right, or wrongly infer that him you speak of is the Nazarene who claimed he was the anointed one? Surely you must know he is dead.”
“Do I hear a-right, or wrongly infer that you be a rabbi and Pharisee?”
“This much is true: rabbi I am.”
Then you are as lost as I now am! You who ever live in doubt and never know redemption’s touch.”
“Dame, you mistake your doubt for mine. Doubt is not what harrows me. Sin? Sure. Grief? Much. Wonderment at why sin exists. Exile from our Holy Land. But never exile from the Lor.”
“But then the Lor stepped down to earth. Why turn your back upon the sun?”
“Yours are words for Roman and Greek, them who seek gods they can see and touch, with human features and human faults. Give them that in a Perfect Man and see how they rush to follow him. But here you are, praying psalms in Aramaic. You are a Jew. Why do you still cling to him? You are ever present to the Lor.
“He healed me and he lifted me. He held me and loved me. My love for him is personal.”
“Then healer and husband, but not God. Look at this world, still so benighted. Him you expect to rise from his grave cannot do such a ghostly thing. Much hubris his disciples displayed, claiming he was the body of God. And vastly more by those followers who will trample this world with their hobnail boots.”
“Kind your voice but vicious your words, battering me with your hard beliefs. Is it not enough for you that demons gorge upon my soul?”
See. Like a house that slowly cracks and crumbles when an earthquake heaves. So, a bitter wailing breaks and shakes this woman to piteous sobs. And who am I to crush her hopes?
“Sister, your grief brings sorrow to me, touching my own pangs of loss. But perhaps our griefs have hardened us. We are taught, the Lor’s Presence is near at hand, fills this room, fills this ruined land, this world. Is there not a tiny flame of hope flickering in your heart? Shelter it. Don’t let it die. ”
And now the mourning dove cries out,
“Weep no more. Weep no more.”
As I turn to leave, I ask of her,
“Sister, may I know your name?”
“Miriam of Magdala...”
And now that inner light in her quickly fades and she is gone.
Here are 3 scenes set in the Tannaitic era, after about 100 CE. The Atternen Ju (Eternal Jew) is reminiscing about some stories he heard from the mouths of the sages, stories that he is recording to be used as guided meditations.
This particular triptych of stories is told by the Tanna, Yose ben Halafta. In them he tells of meetings with remarkable men and women. The story’s setting is based on a well-known midrash, in which Elijah asks Yose why he went into a ruins to pray.
Recognizing that many people have difficulty reading my poetry, I have translated the text back into standard English (what I call “ole Eenglish), prose. Perhaps later I’ll post the poetry itself.
Here is the first of the 3 scenes. In coming days I’ll post the other two.
Thus...
One night I was walking past the ruins of Betar. A moaning dove perched on an arch lured me into the rubble to pray.
“Hail, spirit. What troubles you?”
I called to him. He moaned a reply. As I approached he lifted wing and flew to a pillar further in, and still he called, imploring me, call and response, to pray with him. And yet still further, he lit on a branch of a ghastly myrtle burnt in the siege. And there we began to pray the 18, [note: the 18 blessings, core of the 3 daily prayer sessions] and I got as far as ‘lee shanay affar,’ ‘those who sleep in the dust.’
And now, as the dove ceases his moaning and leaps from the branch and flies away, what do I hear? A weeping child?
And there, behold, he sits at my feet. Our eyes meet and he takes my hand, and I, I know not what to do. I must not interrupt my prayer. Nor may I leave this child alone.
And so, as he leads, I repeat this phrase:
Mee khummokha b’al g’vurote, u’mee do mellukh?
Who is like You, Master and strength, and who can be compared to you?
And now it seems we’re lost in a maze. There, the dove praying his moans. There the myrtle, its branches like arms, frantic, reaching to an empty sky. Now the dove, moaning his prayers on a pillar leaning in an empty lot. A twig cracks. Gravel kicked. And all around the echo of moans. And now a snarl and now a growl. And now an animal charging at us; a great wolf! It leaps at the boy.
And licks his face. Is this a dog?
“This is what I’ve been looking for.” The first words the boy has said.
Now the dog leads us deeper in, into a warren of rubble and ruins, rebels and runes. Do I see a face staring at us? Wrinkled like one who the years deform, haggard, unkempt, mournful, old. His voice intones like the joyless dead.
“I once ruled the heavenly spheres with grandeur such as none could compare. ‘Pharaoh’ they would whisper and bow low, and those that knew me called me ‘god.’ I, even I, was punished severe by that Hebrew Lor whose power I dared. Search ye now thru my opulent home, where lapis and gold once tiled the streets, now rubble and mudbrick and stinking tombs. Prophet, what further ruin will you vent on one who knows not how to repent?
In awe I dwelt on his fearsome word, until I dared to ask of him,
“What, oh pharaoh, compels you to dwell here in Betar far from your Nile?”
“For me, that river never ceased to flow in blood, bringing pestilence. But here my stony and envious heart finds pleasure, seeing how Roman gods have avenged my loss to that Adonai.”
Just then the child whispered to me,
“But he said to me, he came here to live because Betar appeared to him just like Fustat, his ancient home, which every year decays still more. Here he hopes to learn from the Jew how to repent and serve the Lor.”
“Curse you child,” that specter forswore, and disappeared back into the stones.
And once again, that dove and his moan….
Here’s a 20 second video, giving an impressionistic picture of the blizzard hitting NYC today. I created it from a single photo that I put thru a series of progressive transformations.
